


Your Shadow Seems to Shine

by psiten



Series: SASO 2016 Fills [20]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Challenge: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics | SASO 2016, Established Relationship, Future Fic, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Secret Messages, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 16:57:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13439190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psiten/pseuds/psiten
Summary: What kind of concession speech would his faraway lover make, Yukimura wondered? He'd had to make as many of those as he'd had to make victory speeches. That was the price a man paid for having rivals who could match you in strength.Original Prompt: Screenshots of Yukimura from a TeniMyu performance, saying, "Frankly, there is no one who can beat Sanada now, except for me."





	Your Shadow Seems to Shine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nobetterpicture](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nobetterpicture/gifts).



    Flashbulbs went off all around the interview stage, making the gray backdrop seem white in splashes for the barest of moments, even on the television screen Yukimura was watching. Now that his former Vice Captain was about to speak, and all the commentators had finally closed their mouths, Yukimura unmuted the television set and dialed the volume up to something he could hear easily. Poor Gen'ichirou, having to concede the Australian Open to Tezuka-kun this year! It seemed like Echizen-kun had the right idea after all, going pro before any of the others. With the way the new demons of the world tennis circuit fought for titles, trading them back and forth, Echizen-kun might very well be the only one of them to manage a proper Grand Slam.

    Naturally, the brat claimed it wouldn't count until he'd gotten one while the others were playing, but Yukimura knew perfectly well that facts were facts. Echizen Ryoma had the words "Grand Slam" marked next to his name in the record books. Sanada Gen'ichirou, as yet, did not.

    What kind of concession speech would his faraway lover make, Yukimura wondered? He'd had to make as many of those as he'd had to make victory speeches. That was the price a man paid for having rivals who could match you in strength -- because no matter what the idiots offering commentary said, trying to give reasons why any one of the Japanese players who'd taken tennis by storm was stronger than the others, those chosen few were indeed _evenly matched_ \-- and Yukimura knew Gen'ichirou was more than proud enough to pay it in full. There would be neither hemming nor hawing, no excusing the fact that he'd lost the last shot any more than Tezuka had given excuses for losing to Echizen in the US Open, or Echizen had given excuses for his own hard loss in the semi-finals yesterday. Although, even in defeat, Yukimura had to smile at the grimace Gen'ichirou made at the podium.

    Those who understood less might believe it was because he hated losing. Which, of course, Gen'ichirou did, but not in such a petty way as to grimace over it. No, that expression was due entirely to the distaste he had for speaking in English. It was hardly his favorite language.

    "Thank you, everyone," Gen'ichirou began. "Thank you, especially, to my opponent, Kunimitsu Tezuka, who has earned a worthy victory."

    Yukimura knew from experience that Gen'ichirou would apologize to Tezuka-kun in very brief Japanese as they traded places on the podium for having said his name in reverse, and Tezuka-kun would apologize in advance for the fact that he was about to do the same. It was a little ritual of stone-faced embarrassment those two shared.

    "We both fought our best. I hope, next time we meet, we can have another... fun match. And, as always, my regards to the only man who can truly defeat me. Excuse me."

    Gen'ichirou stepped away, ignoring the reporters asking him to please clarify what he meant by ending every speech with those words. Were they a challenge? Why did he still say it when various competitors had given him a challenge, or even beaten him in competition?

    Of course no one was so impolite as to suggest that Gen'ichirou didn't know what he meant. But the answer would never be broadcast. His ridiculously serious lover had told those silly reporters years ago in an interview that he saw no reason to explain his parting words, because the person they were meant for knew exactly what they meant. And he did, Yukimura reflected with a smile.

    He did know.


End file.
